This is my last post of 2023 and I’m ending the year with a celebration!

“Autumn is the season to find contentment at home by paying attention to what we already have.”

—unknown

In September I mentioned some of the projects I’d been working on after moving into my new studio. One was prepping for my show at Viva Gallery, which I wrote about last month. I’ve since finished the others and thought I’d share them with you today.

When I checked first thing this morning, the temperature was 31 (30 degrees lower than when I woke up yesterday).

On Main Street of my little town of Viroqua, Wisconsin there’s an art gallery run by a cooperative of 23 local artists.

I’m grateful for all these late-season flowers. Not just for me, but for my garden visitors, too. Bees. Butterflies. I still see hummingbirds every day, zooming from flower to flower.

Earlier this week I sat in my studio with a steaming mug of Dragonwell tea and watched my garden through my new sliding doors.

This photo probably gives it away:

Some projects live in my head for a very long time before I get around to bringing them into the world. Painting a series of “barn” quilts for my house and garden is one of those projects.

When I sat down to write today’s post, I felt completely unprepared. And for the first time in a really long time, I was tempted to skip blogging this week.

Over the last month I’ve been focused on moving my studio into its new space (maybe you saw a sneak peek in my most recent Joy Letter or in my June Garden Tour video).

Ah, June in the garden. What a beautiful month.

Today on my blog, I planned to share about the Winding Roads Art Tour, but as I was driving home on Sunday evening I realized I hadn’t taken a single photo all weekend.

I’ve been eating asparagus, rhubarb and young walking onions from the garden. I’m also harvesting chives and pinches of my basil seedlings.

Yesterday as a gentle rain tickled the windows, I cleaned and organized my studio and thought about what I wanted to write to you.

It’s hard for me to believe the days were sunny and warm and my flowers were blooming only a week ago.

When I was first starting to learn to make art I thought that if only I could discover the perfect art supplies, I’d be able to create the beautiful, perfect art I imagined in my head.

When I’m planning my garden for the year I always like to consider my garden from the year before.

If I were to ask you, “Are you an artist?” What would your answer be?

Would the question make you feel uncomfortable?

Over the last couple of weeks, our snow was slowly melting. Two weeks of predicted snowstorms never materialized. What was left was nearly gone and then this week we were hit with snow, sleet, freezing rain and more snow. Now everything is white again.